Banner Health is closing its hospice operations in the Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz., metropolitan areas and transferring patients and employees to a nonprofit provider, according to the Phoenix Business Journal.
More than 100 Banner employees are moving over to Hospice of the Valley, which has four clinical offices and nine inpatient care homes across the region, according to its website. Hospice of the Valley's programs include home-based primary care, palliative, dementia, hospice and pediatric care.
The decision to wind down its hospice operations comes as the 30-hospital system plans to focus on home health and ambulatory services.
"Banner Health has transitioned its hospice service to Hospice of the Valley for the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas," a spokesperson for Banner told the Business Journal. "This strategic change allows us to have access to a much larger hospice network and a provider that we respect and trust."
Last year, Banner Hospice provided care for more than 1,802 patients in the Phoenix and Tucson areas, according to the health system.
The strategic change allows Banner to have access to a much larger hospice network "with a provider that we respect and trust," a spokesperson for the system told Becker's. The change took effect Dec. 1, including the transition of staff to support community hospice needs.
Banner Hospice in other markets were not affected, according to the health system.